GSM Academy opens in Germany

Mobile telecommunications is currently enjoying a boom all over Africa. Many analysts have described the explosion of mobile phones in the continent in the past ten years as a revolution. While telephone users in most African countries before the advent of mobile telephony in the continent were rich businessmen and women, top politicians and high-ranking bureaucrats, today, market women, taxi drivers, street hawkers and even pupils spot their handsets everywhere.

It is no wonder that the mobile phone industry is thriving, as it is one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors. However, because technicians are in short supply, millions of dollars are paid to foreign specialists who work in the sector every year, putting a strain on many an African country’s foreign exchange resources.

A German training and consulting company, TOP Business AG, has introduced a human resource development programme, the GSM Academy (GSM stands for ‘Global Standard for Mobiles’, a technology that powers mobile telephony), specifically to train skilled manpower for the African mobile telecommunications sector.

The GSM Academy consists of an intensive three-month training at TOP Business AG’s training centre and a six-month practical attachment with a network operator in Europe. The company, which has 15 years of experience in global mobile infrastructure education, trains workers for reputable companies such as Alcatel, Ericsson, Nokia, Nortel and Orange.

The GSM Academy, which is based on efficient knowledge transfer, will train students to become BSS Operation & Maintenance Specialists, who will be equipped with the knowledge and practical experience and “with all the competence you need to start off work immediately” with a GSM Network Operator in Africa.

Those who successfully undergo the training can be sure of finding a good job after graduation because their skills are in short supply in most African countries. What’s more, technicians in mobile telecommunications are enjoying far higher wages than workers in most other industries.

“There are so many positions available that people have a choice. Candidates can get several job interviews and therefore can choose the best package,” says an assistant manager with a recruiting company in Lagos.

Graduates of the Academy will also be able to become self-employed by setting up repair shops for handsets, for example. This is a big market as hundreds of thousands of lightly defective handsets that can be repaired within minutes by specialists are being thrown away in Africa every year.

The GSM course, which normally costs 30,000 euros per trainee, is being offered to Africans for only 4,500 euros, as it is subsidised by international organisations in line with the new philosophy of development assistance, which puts priority on the training of skilled manpower for Africa. This will help the continent conserve foreign exchange it otherwise spends on foreign experts who are said to take billions of dollars out of the continent every year.

According to Bernhard Kuhn, Vice President - Telecommunication Networks Training & Consulting, at TOP Business AG, “well-trained professionals have better chances of securing a job or improving their career prospects. Moreover, these people, as a kernel of knowledge, can multiply the specific know-how with their daily work”.

The GSM Academy is appropriate for candidates from Africa, who must have had education and/or training in electronics. The course is also recommendable to Africans based in Europe who would like to return to their home countries with skills that will enable them to earn good salaries and maintain the standard of living they are used to in Europe.

Accommodation, health insurance and feeding of the participants will be provided for the duration of the school course. However trainees will be expected to meet their transport and other living expenses.

Only 32 participants will be admitted to the first course and it will be on a first-come, first-served basis. TOP Business AG will organise visa and other travel formalities for participants.

All participants are required to return to their home countries after the successful completion of the course, which will commence on 2 October 2006.

More information about the GSM Academy may be obtained from:

TOP Business AG
Mr Bernhard Kuhn
Klingenhofstrasse 58
D-90411 Nuremberg
Germany
Phone: 0049 - 911 95117-300
Mobile: 0049 - 177 3313805
Fax: 0049 - 911 95117-309
E-mail: bernhard.kuhn@topbusinessag.com
Website: www.topbusinessag.com/e/training/wireless/gsmacademy.php